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Thursday, November 4, 2010

Wax on, wax off

The flower of our Indonesian Wax Ginger.

This is one of the entries that was scheduled to be posted around the time the strong typhoon drastically rearranged the plants in our farm and garden. Although this plant survived, I'm quite certain it doesn't look pretty today.

The Indonesian Wax Ginger (Tapeinochilus ananassae) is another of those exotic tropical plants that for me is a "must have" in our garden.

Another ginger in the Costus family, its native locale ranges from Southeast Asia to north-eastern part of Australia.

Typical of a Costus, its smooth and lance-shaped leaves grow in spiral arrangement around a bamboo-like stem. The showy and red "flower", which is actually a collection of bracts, sprouts directly from the ground. The small and yellow flowers emerge in between the bracts.

Because the waxy and stiff bracts are beautiful and long-lasting, the Indonesian Wax ginger is an excellent cutflower. It is suitable for floral arrangements with a tropical flair.

The pictures above are of our Indonesian Wax Gingers growing in the nursery area. There are also other clumps of this plant scattered in the upper garden which are still young and are yet to bloom.